Latest news with #mentalAcuity
Fox News
23-05-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Trump has not directed administration to declassify Biden documents on health 'cover-up'
President Donald Trump has not directed his administration to declassify documents related to former President Joe Biden's health and an alleged "cover-up" of the 46th president's slipping mental acuity while commander in chief, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. "The president can declassify anything that he wants. Has he looked to see if there are any records here that would contradict what we've been told about Joe Biden's decline?" Fox News' Peter Doocy asked Leavitt during a press briefing Thursday. "He has not directed anyone, to my knowledge, to look into that," Leavitt responded. "But, surely, I can ask him if he intends to." Biden's health is back in the national spotlight after audio recordings of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur were released Friday. The recordings showed the former president tripping over his words, slurring sentences, taking long pauses between answers and struggling to remember key moments in his life, including the year his son Beau Biden died of cancer. Hur led an investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents after Biden's departure as vice president during the Obama administration. Hur announced in February 2024 he would not recommend criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials after his vice presidency, saying Biden is "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." Biden's office revealed Sunday the former president was battling an "aggressive" prostate cancer that had metastasized. After the election cycle, a handful of books documenting the 2024 election cycle and Biden's apparent health decline have hit store shelves claiming that Biden staffers were aware of and fretted about the president's mental decline, but publicly promoted him as physically and mentally fit to serve as president. Fox News Digital has extensively covered concerns about Biden's mental acuity and health dating back to the 2020 election cycle. "I think the president has spoken on this pretty extensively," Leavitt added at the news conference. "And I have spoken about it extensively from this podium as well, how it was truly one of the worst political scandals this country has ever seen, that the previous administration covered up the decline in the former president's mental and physical ability. And it's now all coming out. But the American people knew the truth, and that's one of the many reasons why President Trump won the election on Nov. 5." Doocy asked Leavitt specifically about the Biden administration's use of an autopen, which Trump has argued was used by Biden staffers to sign official White House documents without Biden's approval. "Specifically, (Trump) talks about the autopen. He thinks that staffers were using this autopen. Is there some kind of, like a badge, that you have to swipe to use an autopen? Is there a record of that?" Doocy asked. "I can tell you here at this White House, the president signs any document that has legal implications," Leavitt responded. "The president signs every executive order. He signs every proclamation. He signs pretty much every document that is needed for the president's signature, with the exception of maybe some letters to children. From what we have heard and seen, that was not the case in the previous administration. And the president is raising good questions that are worth looking into." Autopen signatures are automatically produced by a machine, as opposed to an authentic, handwritten signature. The conservative Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project first investigated the Biden administration's use of an autopen earlier this year and found that the same signature was on a bevvy of executive orders and other official documents, while Biden's signature on the document announcing his departure from the 2024 race varied from the apparent machine-produced signature.
Asharq Al-Awsat
19-05-2025
- Health
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Biden's Cancer Diagnosis Prompts New Questions About His Health While in Office
Former President Joe Biden's cancer announcement revived questions on Monday about the extent of his health issues during his tenure, with Vice President JD Vance saying Biden should have been more transparent with the public. "Why didn't the American people have a better sense of his health picture? Why didn't the American people have more accurate information about what he was actually dealing with? This is serious stuff," Vance told reporters as he wrapped up a trip to Rome. He wished Biden "the right recovery." The remarks by Vance, a Republican, captured the renewed focus on the health of the 82-year-old Democratic former president with the publication of a book that details widespread concerns about Biden's mental acuity among aides and Democratic insiders as he pursued reelection in 2024. Excerpts from the book have prompted new questions about whether critical information was withheld from the American public about Biden's ability to serve in the White House. Biden's closest aides have dismissed those concerns, saying Biden was fully capable of making important decisions. A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately return a Reuters request for comment. Biden has appeared on television to rebut accusations that his mental capacity had diminished during his 2021-2025 term. "There's nothing to sustain that," he said on ABC's "The View" on May 8. Biden, the oldest person ever to serve as president, was forced to drop his reelection bid last July after a stumbling debate performance against Republican rival Donald Trump eroded his support among fellow Democrats. Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris, launched a bid of her own but lost to Trump in the November 2024 election. DOCTORS SURPRISED Biden's office said he had been diagnosed on Friday with prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. Several doctors told Reuters that cancers like this are typically diagnosed before they reach such an advanced stage. "I would assume the former president gets a very thorough physical every year," said Dr. Chris George, medical director of the cancer program at Northwestern Health Network. "It's sort of hard for me to believe that he's had a (blood test) within the past year that was normal." Dr. Herbert Lepor, a urologist at NYU Langone Health, said that given the available screening options, "it is a bit unusual in the modern era to detect cancers at this late stage." Some 70% of prostate cancer cases were diagnosed before they spread to other organs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. US guidelines do not recommend annual blood screening for men over 70 and it is unclear whether the annual presidential exam would have included those tests. The new book, "Original Sin," by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson put a spotlight on Biden's mental acuity in his final months in office. "It was a mistake for Democrats to not listen to the voters earlier," US Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, said on NBC on Sunday. Biden faced no serious challenge for the 2024 Democratic nomination, and party leaders repeatedly vouched for his ability to serve a second four-year term even though 74% of Americans in January 2024 thought he was too old for the job, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. Biden's cancer diagnosis drew an outpouring of sympathy from supporters and rivals alike, including Trump. Biden thanked the public on behalf of his wife and himself for their support in a social media post released early on Monday. "Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support," he said.
Reuters
19-05-2025
- Health
- Reuters
Biden's cancer diagnosis prompts new questions about his health while in office
WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) - Former President Joe Biden's cancer announcement revived questions on Monday about the extent of his health issues during his tenure, with Vice President JD Vance saying Biden should have been more transparent with the public. "Why didn't the American people have a better sense of his health picture? Why didn't the American people have more accurate information about what he was actually dealing with? This is serious stuff," Vance told reporters as he wrapped up a trip to Rome. He wished Biden "the right recovery." The remarks by Vance, a Republican, captured the renewed focus on the health of the 82-year-old Democratic former president with the publication of a book that details widespread concerns about Biden's mental acuity among aides and Democratic insiders as he pursued reelection in 2024. Excerpts from the book have prompted new questions about whether critical information was withheld from the American public about Biden's ability to serve in the White House. Biden's closest aides have dismissed those concerns, saying Biden was fully capable of making important decisions. A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately return a Reuters request for comment. Biden has appeared on television to rebut accusations that his mental capacity had diminished during his 2021-2025 term. "There's nothing to sustain that," he said on ABC's 'The View' on May 8. Biden, the oldest person ever to serve as president, was forced to drop his reelection bid last July after a stumbling debate performance against Republican rival Donald Trump eroded his support among fellow Democrats. Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris, launched a bid of her own but lost to Trump in the November 2024 election. Biden's office said he had been diagnosed on Friday with prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. Several doctors told Reuters that cancers like this are typically diagnosed before they reach such an advanced stage. "I would assume the former president gets a very thorough physical every year," said Dr. Chris George, medical director of the cancer program at Northwestern Health Network. "It's sort of hard for me to believe that he's had a (blood test) within the past year that was normal." Dr. Herbert Lepor, a urologist at NYU Langone Health, said that given the available screening options, 'it is a bit unusual in the modern era to detect cancers at this late stage.' Some 70% of prostate cancer cases were diagnosed before they spread to other organs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. guidelines do not recommend annual blood screening for men over 70 and it is unclear whether the annual presidential exam would have included those tests. The new book, "Original Sin," by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson put a spotlight on Biden's mental acuity in his final months in office. "It was a mistake for Democrats to not listen to the voters earlier," U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, said on NBC on Sunday. Biden faced no serious challenge for the 2024 Democratic nomination, and party leaders repeatedly vouched for his ability to serve a second four-year term even though 74% of Americans in January 2024 thought he was too old for the job, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. Biden's cancer diagnosis drew an outpouring of sympathy from supporters and rivals alike, including Trump. Biden thanked the public on behalf of his wife and himself for their support in a social media post released early on Monday. "Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support," he said.
